Round 2: My Dream

Maeva Alderwood, yes she was born with this name, her husband actually took hers out of respect for just how special she is. Being born with the spirit of the nymph is a great honor within the Kaimana Village.

From a young age she was always treated differently, but never in a bad way. She was persistently coddled by her parents and fellow villagers, even the stubborn elders treated her like a fragile baby bird.

As she grew older, she got bored. Bored of life, bored of her people, bored of getting everything she'd ever want or need. She was smart, and even tried to act out on numerous occasions, but she was never punished.

One day, she ventured into the Tempest Forest, where a large mantis-like creature attacked her. It was this moment that changed her life, as she was saved by a Guardian named Azule, he only stayed at the position for five years but put his stamp as the resident cool guy.

In spite of that, he scolded Maeva for the first time in her life. In fact, he was weirded out by how much her eyes twinkled when he did. Still, he ruffled her hair, and went on his way.

From that point on, she wanted to push herself and use the gift given to her, to not just laze about and let everyone hand her everything, but to work incredibly hard at something, even if it was dangerous.

At 13, she sought out Azule, the man who saved her, and begged him to train her. After a bit of alcohol runs and chores, she got her chance. The opportunity seemed like a bust until she grabbed two small blades, struggling to use them with a normal grip. Being the teen she was, she thought using them the other way would make her look cooler like her savior. Instead, that was the revelation as he made her practice at it and it came so much easier.

After five years, she quickly became the best student he'd ever had the chance to train. But no matter how many times he put in a word to have her take the reigns as the next Guardian, Atticus persistently refused. As life progressed for her, she couldn't help but wonder...will she ever get her fair shot?

If she did, it'd be a dream come true.

-

Maeva and Leon clashed with intensity, sparks flew from their weapons as they were deadlocked. The two went back and forth with their blows, block and strike in almost beautiful choreographed motions.

"Sheesh. He really did improve didn't he? No matter, I still got plenty more for him yet!"

Maeva charged but stopped at a moment's notice with a smooth dropstep as she cut Leon at his side and around his back perfectly around his armor, as he began bleeding from his wounds. She pushed him away with a spin kick before he could potentially block or counter another move.

Leon winced as he felt the stinging sensation from her attacks, he turned back around with a slight grin. He did the unthinkable right in her face, he reversed the grip on his broadsword.

Maeva almost lost total control of her laughter as she bore witness to Leon doing this. "Is..is that a joke? You can't use a broadsword effectively like that."

"Then punish me for it then." Leon stated confidently.

"Oooh my Leon, I didn't know you were into that~!" She teased in a provocative voice.

She went after him, but while the striking was bad, he figured out how to use it as an effective shield. He covered himself with every strike she made. He spun back, holding it the same way before charging back into her with both hands on his blade.

He went for his big swing, coming from his left rather than his right. He whiffed completely, but planned on dodging her and connected with a knee strike to her gut without losing momentum. She fell to her back with a cough, losing her blades on the ground as Leon stepped back and patiently waited for her to get up.

"How polite of you. Waiting for me to get back to my feet." Maeva said in a slightly sarcastic tone.

"What can I say? I'm just wired a little bit differently."

Maeva climbed back to her feet as she took a deep breath. "High gear time."

"Ready yourself, Leon. This marks your end!"

Leon sheathed his broadsword, and pulled Silva out from off his back. He knew what was to come. But not exactly the nature of what to expect.

Maeva's body exuded a green aura, creating what was more like a deciduous forest around them.

She quickly got out of his sight, hiding amongst the numerous spots that will camouflage her from his view, while spying on him carefully to see how jumpy he is.

To her surprise he was casually walking, touching the bushes and the full evergreens, seeing how solid they really were.

"You're doing a good job at making me feel homesick."

"Nice try Leon, but I'm not responding to you."

Maeva could tell Leon was up to something, Silva had a violent wind swirling around it. She ripped off one of her buttons and tossed it into a bush to see how he'd react.

The first slight noise he heard, he blasted a cyclone of wind from the blade.

"Interesting."

She jumped from one tree to the other, catching Leon's attention towards her as he missed with another wind cyclone that destroyed the branch she'd jumped to.

She moved through the trees as doppelgangers of hers were created using her power. Some soon moved to the ground as she had Leon surrounded. He couldn't tell why he heard multiple footsteps until he saw double, triple, and quadruple of her.

She inflicted multiple lacerations with her blades, multiple strikes coming from all kinds of angles. Above, from behind, his left, his right. He became staggered as he bled all over himself and was punched and kicked back into a tree. Where two of her copies held his arms as another dug her knee into his gut, making him cough.

She finally made an appearance herself, running at him and giving yet another knee straight to his gut, making him buckle and slide down the tree, sitting on the forest floor.

"Do you give up, Leon Atkins?" She asked in a serious tone.

"You'll have to knock me out…" He responded in a forced voice spitting out blood afterwards.

"Heh, I figured. But mercy was the option I wanted for this."

What she failed to notice was that Silva was camouflaged as vines on the ground. Leon took advantage of the environment she gave him, and used the power of earth to control the trees and the vines, grabbing all of her doppelgangers.

Maeva looked at him in shock as he struggled back to his feet, using the tree to support him.

"You waited for it...didn't you?" She said half heartedly.

Leon nodded in return. But after her initial reaction, she had a sadistic smile.

"You thought this domain was yours to use? This place..is my creation. I only let you exist in it."

Her body glowed a more intense green aura, the whole forest came alive and began closing in on Leon. He looked around himself only to feel like walls closed in on him.

"QUIT." She exclaimed.

But he refused to heed her warning. He was ready to make one final struggle.

"I can't, neither can you! This will end when one of us can't stand! And I can still STAND!"

Maeva watched him grip Silva once again as she saw multiple elements run through it. "Is he combining them?"

"Fusion element! SUUUPERSTORRRM!!!!" With the powers of water, wind, lightning and ice; a torrential downpour mixed with hail and lightning strikes. The strikes began burning the trees down around them, as a massive tornado rose up and swallowed everything into it. The whole forest she created had been taken away in an instant. Maeva had nearly been sucked into it, but the wind cycle never actually moved. She smartly got into the eye of it and waited it out until it finally dissipated.

Leon fell back to his knees after making it stop. While a single element wasn't bad for him to handle, combinations of them took a lot out of his system.

Maeva walked slowly after she was in the clear. Both of them had put a lot of effort, both looked beat to hell. Leon was bloodied everywhere. Maeva nearly got upended by a massive cyclone.

"Was….that too desperate?" Leon asked as he got to his feet again.

"Only as desperate as swallowing you whole with a forest." She responded cheekily.

Leon ran to her, attempting to take a swing. Maeva made him miss and punched him in the face cleanly. He staggered back but held his vertical base, before swinging at her and hitting her again.

The two had a slugfest, they just kept hitting each other back and forth, trading punch after punch. Both exhausted their abilities, and now it was down to who was tougher between them.

Leon gave his all into one single swing, catching her flush in the jaw as she hit the ground.

"No...I can't lose. I need to get up! I need to win!"

Maeva somehow dragged herself back up again, she punched Leon, then proceeded to push him to his back before she grabbed his right arm and rolled him using it. She then cranked his arm back applying heavy pressure that made him writhe in pain.

"I'll tear it!" She exclaimed. "Give it up or I'll take your arm with me!"

"Never! I can't lose and you know it!!!"

She wrapped her legs around his right arm and pulled it the opposite way to the left, making all the pressure go into his shoulder, as she pulled even harder making him try not to cry because it hurt so bad.

"I will achieve my dream, I've worked too hard to lose now, so please don't make me seriously harm you because you're stubborn!"

Leon saw Silva about six feet away from him, with his legs and his free arm, he dragged himself to it, even as Maeva cranked on her hold more, he gritted his teeth and moved anyways.

Maeva grabbed his wrist and bent it backwards and used that as another base to pull harder. Leon punched the ground with his left hand as he felt his shoulder weakening. He pulled himself more, moving closer to Silva within a couple feet from his reach.

Maeva thrashed his arm back and forth like a crocodile shaking it's prey like a ragdoll, making Leon cry out in pain so much so that tears actually formed because of it.

"Why won't he quit already?!"

He managed to lunge himself a bit, and scraped Silva into his free hand as he zapped her immediately to force her to let go of him. His right arm was mostly limp, but still he used it regardless.

She was stunned by the shock still and Leon grabbed her from behind putting her in a sleeper hold. Even with his bad arm he applied pressure as she squirmed desperately, but was to no avail. He pressed the grip tighter, holding back the pain from pure adrenaline alone. She fought less after every passing moment.

"This..is how it ends...? Everything up to now..and I missed it. The more I'm squirming the more futile it seems. My…"

Her last words of her subconscious got mixed with her conscious before she passed out. "...dream is gone…"

Leon let go as soon as he felt her go out, as the audience was dumbfounded. There wasn't even a cheer. Only silence.

The announcer was unsure if saying the victor in his usual tone was okay. But he needed to do his job anyway. "Leon Atkins advances to the Finals!"

No one clapped, or cheered, or booed. Leon felt awkward about the reaction as well. He carried Maeva to the back, bringing her to the Doctor's room and laid her on a bed. Robin had tagged with Courtney to break in down below and check on his wife.

"Leon is she..?" He couldn't finish his sentence without tearing up.

"There shouldn't be anything too bad, bruising, cuts, and things like that, definitely. Possibly a cracked bone here and there." He said, though he wasn't entirely sure.

"Based on what I saw and see now, Leon needs far more treatment as the winner. I'm especially worried about his shoulder." Remoire stated as she tested his arm movement and he almost punched the wall in pain. "It's likely a labrum tear. Based on the movement, not a complete one. So you'll be able to fight again sooner."

Courtney's concerns ran through her head about Leon. She didn't know how he'd last through the last match with the damage he sustained.

Maeva stirred, opening her eyes as she looked around, focusing her eyes. "I lost. Didn't I?" She said looking her husband in the eyes.

All he could do was nod to her, he was excited that she was okay, but it wasn't the right moment.

"Leon...you ok..? I almost tore your arm out of its socket…" She asked as he looked over with a half hearted smile.

"Nothing a miracle doctor can't fix." He said.

Remoire actually blushed at his comment, and Maeva noticed immediately. "Oooh. Doc does have humility, her face is reeeed."

"It's nice to be appreciated…" She said softly.

"But! Maeva, you'll probably end up being discharged later today, unless I find something cracked or broken. If not, bruising can only be helped by your natural processes."

"I...want to help..heal him." Maeva requested.

Everyone looked at her after she said that. Remoire stood up and grabbed a coat and tossed it to her.

"You may, after I'm done helping you. You're the first to ever ask such a request. But guilt is just as unhealthy as an actual physical wound, I'd never say no to such earnesty."

"Thanks Doc."

"You all may call me Remoire, I think we've surpassed formalities with the times we've had here."

Everyone laughed and smiled at each other as Maeva got up and went to Leon. She took his good arm and held it tightly.

"I pass my dream onto you. Please, win the finals. I can make peace with that. I can be happy about that, and I promise I'll be a good sidekick that watches out for you."

Leon sighed with her sad tone in her voice, he hugged her with his one arm and patted her on the back.

"I got this. I wouldn't lose to anyone after essentially beating the boogeyman that you were for me."

"You better not, you teenage shit." She ruffled his hair after saying that to him jokingly.